The main US stock indices fell noticeably, as investors assessed the impact of the financial crisis in Turkey, as well as the growing tensions between the US and its trading partners.

While the lira continued to recede from record lows against the dollar, Turkey announced higher duties on imports of some US goods, including cars, alcohol and tobacco, in response to the US decision to double import tariffs for steel and aluminum.

Investors also attracted some attention from the US. The Commerce Department reported that retail sales in the US rose much more in July than expected, and the previous increase in sales was revised downward. According to the report, retail sales in July grew by 0.5% after growing by 0.2% in June (revised from 0.5%). Economists expected a less significant increase in the indicator - by 0.1%. Excluding the modest growth in sales of cars and parts, retail sales rose 0.6% in July after rising 0.2% in June. Sales of cars increased by 0.3%, as expected.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said labor productivity rose 2.9% in the second quarter after rising 0.3% in the first quarter (revised from + 0.4%). Economists expected an increase of 2.3%. The report also says that labor costs per unit of labor decreased by 0.9% in the second quarter after an increase of 3.4% in the first quarter. Economists predicted that costs would increase by 0.3%.

In addition, the Fed said that industrial production in July rose by 0.1% after an increase of 1.0% in June (revised from + 0.6%). Economists had expected that production would grow by 0.3%. The last change reflected the growth in manufacturing in the manufacturing industry by 0.3% after an increase of 0.8%.

Oil futures fell more than 3% on Wednesday, which was due to weaker prospects for global economic growth and a report on oil stocks in the US. The US Energy Ministry reported that for the week to August 10, oil reserves jumped by 6.805 million barrels, although analysts had expected a reduction of 2.499 million barrels. This was the maximum increase since March 2017.

Most components of DOW finished trading in the red (18 out of 30). Leader of growth were the shares of Pfizer Inc. (PFE, + 1.13%). Outsider were shares of Chevron Corporation (CVX, -3.74%).

Almost all S & P sectors recorded a decline. The largest drop was shown by the commodity sector (-3.2%). Only the utilities sector grew (+ 0.3%).

At closing:

Dow 25,162.41 -137.51 -0.54%

S&P 500 2,818.37 -21.59 -0.76%

Nasdaq 100 7,774.12 -96.78 -1.23%

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) increased by 6.8 million barrels from the previous week. At 414.2 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 1% above the five year average for this time of year.

Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 0.7 million barrels last week and are about 5% above the five year average for this time of year. Finished gasoline inventories decreased while blending components inventories increased last week.

Distillate fuel inventories increased by 3.6 million barrels last week and are about 8% below the five year average for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories increased by 3.4 million barrels last week and are about 10% below the five year average for this time of year. Total commercial petroleum inventories increased last week by 17.4 million barrels last week

Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes edged down one point to a solid 67 reading in August on the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.

"The good news is that builders continue to report strong demand for new housing, fueled by steady job and income growth along with rising household formations," said NAHB chairman Randy Noel.

Manufacturers' and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,937.2 billion, up 0.1 percent from May 2018 and were up 4.0 percent (±1.3 percent) from June 2017.

The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of June was 1.33. The June 2017 ratio was 1.39.

U.S. stock-index futures fell on Wednesday, as investors assessed the impact of Turkey's financial crisis as well as the escalating tensions between the U.S. and its trading partners.

Global Stocks:

Manufacturing production increased 0.3 percent, the output of utilities moved down 0.5 percent, and, after posting five consecutive months of growth, the index for mining declined 0.3 percent. At 108.0 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production was 4.2 percent higher in July than it was a year earlier. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector was unchanged in July at 78.1 percent, a rate that is 1.7 percentage points below its long-run (1972-2017) average.

Business activity remained robust in New York State, according to firms responding to the August 2018 Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The headline general business conditions index climbed three points to 25.6. New orders and shipments grew strongly, and firms reported an increase in unfilled orders.

Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased 2.9 percent during the second quarter of 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, as output increased 4.8 percent and hours worked increased 1.9 percent. (All quarterly percent changes in this release are seasonally adjusted annual rates.)
From the second quarter of 2017 to the second quarter of 2018, productivity increased 1.3 percent, reflecting a 3.5-percent increase in output and a 2.2-percent increase in hours worked.

Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for July 2018, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $507.5 billion, an increase of 0.5 percent from the previous month, and 6.4 percent (±0.5 percent) above July 2017. Total sales for the May 2018 through July 2018 period were up 6.3 percent (±0.5 percent) from the same period a year ago.

The May 2018 to June 2018 percent change was revised from up 0.5 percent (±0.4 percent) to up 0.2 percent. Retail trade sales were up 0.4 percent from June 2018, and 6.0 percent (±0.5 percent) above last year. Gasoline Stations were up 22.2 percent (±1.6 percent) from July 2017, while Nonstore Retailers were up 8.7 percent (±1.4 percent) from last year.

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

UK house prices rose by 3.0% in the year to June 2018, down from 3.5% in the year to May 2018. This is the lowest UK annual rate since August 2013 when it was also 3.0%.

Looking at the demand for housing, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) UK Residential Market Survey for June 2018 revealed their new buyer enquiries series was flat, having been negative since early 2017.

On the supply side, RICS reported their new vendor instructions series recorded a positive balance for two consecutive months, the first time this has occurred since early 2016. The average stock per estate agent has been edging up very marginally in recent months.

Average house prices in the UK increased by 3.0% in the year to June 2018 (down from 3.5% in May 2018).

The headline rate of inflation for goods leaving the factory gate (output prices) was 3.1% on the year to July 2018, down from 3.3% in June 2018.

Prices for materials and fuels (input prices) rose 10.9% on the year to July 2018, up from 10.3% in June 2018.

All product groups provided upward contributions to output annual inflation; the largest contribution was made by petroleum products.

Input annual inflation increased for the fifth consecutive month; crude oil provided the largest upward contribution to the annual and monthly rate.

The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) 12-month inflation rate was 2.3% in July 2018, unchanged from June 2018.

Rising prices for computer games and transport fares produced the largest upward contributions to change in the 12-month rate between June and July 2018, although computer game prices tend to be highly variable from month to month.

The upward effects were offset by falls in prices for clothing and footwear, and the removal of initial charges for investment in some unit trusts.

Prices for clothing and footwear fell by 0.4% between July 2017 and July 2018, the first time the 12-month rate has been negative since October 2016.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) 12-month rate was 2.5% in July 2018, up from 2.4% in June 2018.

Currency markets continue to be driven by the strong dollar and U.S. trade policy, which means EUR/USD is likely to fall toward 1.12, ING analysts say. EUR/USD is flat at 1.1345, having reached on Tuesday a more-than-one-year low of 1.1317. EUR/USD recently broke out of its range between 1.16 and 1.18. ING analysts say "if Turkey is adding to euro under-performance, then we should look out for some potential key events such as" whether the U.S. pastor is released by Thursday and whether Turkish authorities will offer anything new in an investor call also Thursday. - via WSJ

EUR/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.1506 (708)

$1.1477 (1187)

$1.1453 (461)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.1337

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.1289 (6556)

$1.1263 (3014)

$1.1233 (2496)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options and PUT options with the expiration date September, 7 is 134791 contracts (according to data from August, 14) with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,1500 (10564);

GBP/USD

Resistance levels (open interest**, contracts)

$1.2900 (186)

$1.2868 (348)

$1.2841 (168)

Price at time of writing this review: $1.2721

Support levels (open interest**, contracts):

$1.2693 (3175)

$1.2660 (1297)

$1.2637 (1966)

Comments:

- Overall open interest on the CALL options with the expiration date September, 7 is 34770 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,2950 (3460);

- Overall open interest on the PUT options with the expiration date September, 7 is 31820 contracts, with the maximum number of contracts with strike price $1,2900 (3175);

- The ratio of PUT/CALL was 0.92 versus 0.90 from the previous trading day according to data from August, 14.

* - The Chicago Mercantile Exchange bulletin (CME) is used for the calculation.

** - Open interest takes into account the total number of option contracts that are open at the moment.

The seasonally adjusted Wage Price Index (WPI) rose 0.6 per cent in June quarter 2018 and 2.1 per cent through the year, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Seasonally adjusted, private sector wages rose 2.0 per cent and public sector wages grew 2.4 per cent through the year to June quarter 2018.

ABS Chief Economist Bruce Hockman said "Wage growth in Australia has grown at an annual rate of 2.1 per cent, continuing to stabilise between 2.0 and 2.1 per cent over the past four quarters. Annual growth across industries is varied with diverse wage pressure across the labour market."

In original terms, through the year wage growth to the June quarter 2018 ranged from 1.3 per cent for the Mining industry to 2.7 per cent for the Health care and social assistance industry.